6 thoughts on “TBT: Amadeus (1984)

  1. You’re looking in the wrong direction. Previous to Amadeus, Hollywood had almost two decades without significant successful costume movies that weren’t set in the 20th century. Meaning, nothing that required significant expense on the studio’s part & imagination on the audience’s part. Like your examples: Chariots of fire is set in the 1910s/20s & is about male runners, not much costume content. French Lieutenant’s Woman is only half set in the Victorian period, it’s mostly a modern story, so again “relatable” & not much of a risk for studios. Gandhi was more of a risk due to the scale & subject matter, but it’s also set in the 1940s, so fairly modern. Sophie’s Choice is also 1940s. There were also PLENTY of successful 1920s-1940s set flicks in the ’70s / early ’80s, but again, that’s not a major risk for Hollywood or a stretch for audiences.

    Now go backwards. You have to go to 1975’s Barry Lyndon (which I mention in the post) for a Hollywood produced film that’s set pre-20th-c. It wasn’t a particular box office success either. Kubrick got to make it bec. of who he was. The late ’60s was the last period with a lot of successful frock flicks on the big screen, but the expense & behind-the-scenes drama of Cleopatra burned out Hollywood. It took the surprise success of Amadeus to turn that around.

  2. I personally choose to believe that, even though it wasn’t intentional on the part of the filmmakers, the issues with the costumes are yet another sign that Salieri isn’t 100% with it and that it’s yet another reason what happens within his narration to the priest should be taken with a grain of salt. He’s relating events that took place 5 decades prior so of course it would all look a bit janky in retrospect, it’s how he remembers it, not how it was.

      1. That’s the same reasoning I use for the historical inaccuracies in A Christmas Story. If a song plays on the radio that was released later than 1940, or the model of the cars is a year or so off…I just figure it’s because this is supposed to be Ralphie looking back on his childhood, and don’t we get details in our memories mixed up? (It’s the same sort of Fridge Brilliance that answers the question of just where a small-town department store would store that HUGE Santa mountain and throne in the off-season–of course it’s bigger and more elaborate than it would have been in real life, because that’s how Ralphie remembers it!)

Comments are closed.